


Those Who Favor Fire

by Maeve_of_Winter



Series: More Money, More Problems [2]
Category: The Trixie Belden Mysteries - Julie Campbell Tatham & Kathryn Kenny
Genre: Boarding School, Codependency, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2018-01-21 03:50:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1536470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maeve_of_Winter/pseuds/Maeve_of_Winter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taz Devlin's relationship with the truth is more than a little bit complex.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Who Favor Fire

**Author's Note:**

> More of Taz Devlin and my original character, Avery Hollington-Chatsworth.
> 
> I welcome constructive criticism on all of my works. If you want to leave a comment, that's perfectly fine, but if you'd prefer to send a message, my email is goldphoenixrising@yahoo.com.

* * *

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire 

I hold with those who favor fire. 

But if it had to perish twice, 

I think I know enough of hate 

To say that for destruction ice 

Is also great 

And would suffice.

"Fire and Ice," by Robert Frost

* * *

Truth has a contorted standing in the life of Taz Devlin.

He knows the truth is supposed to set you free, simple as that. Tell the truth, and you can rest easy, comforted by the knowledge you have done the right thing.

But sometimes, the truth can be significantly more complicated, especially for him. No one ever really mentions all the stipulations that accompany honesty.

Consider the following scenario: a man lays dying of cancer, his wife at his side. He asks her if she loves him, and she tells him yes, she does. He dies later that night, and she goes home feeling guilty; she has never been satisfied with her marriage, and has cheated on her husband for years.

Was she wrong for lying? Or right for letting her husband have the peace of dying in the presence of someone who loves him? Or wrong, because the love was fabricated, thus rendering his peace false?

Taz doesn't have an answer.

The truth, at times, becomes very convoluted.

As part of a rather uncreative hazing ritual from the older members of the varsity lacrosse team, Taz and Avery are supposed to deface Welton Academy's unused storage shed. They comply; Avery shrugs and starts rattling a paint canister, and Taz is a robot following commands. The liquid hisses from the spray cans, and within minutes, Taz begins feeling lightheaded from the heavy fumes. He tries not to breathe in too deeply.

Avery appears to be inventing his own sort of “street tag,” so Taz decides to make his designs personal to himself as well. His paint is blue, and he finds himself drawing the Devlin family coat of arms on the exterior of the storage shed.

Taz takes a step back and surveys his work. He wonders what his father would think. Happy that his son is participating in a social activity? Angry that his son is so weak to be coerced into vandalism? It's difficult to say; Taz doesn't know Damien all that well.

A group of seniors are “supervising” them, smoking and talking amongst themselves. Taz's artistry gets their attention, though.

“Look at that,” one of them calls. “We got ourselves one classy defensive line, don't we, boys?” There's a chorus of yells and snickers, and one of them carelessly tosses his cigarette away.

Spray paint happens to be extremely flammable. Taz watches without comment as the shed becomes alight in seconds.

The Devlin coat of arms is obscured, and then consumed, by the blaze.

The other team members scatter almost instantly, leaving only echoes of exclaimed profanities behind, but Taz lacks any sort of desire to move.

"Taz, let's go!" Avery urged him. "We need to leave!"

Taz does not respond. His brain blanks and his instincts to run go ignored. He can only stare at the raging inferno before him, mesmerized, feeling the heat coiling around his form. He imagines the fire burning away his clothes, blistering his skin.

All good things come to an end; the phoenix died in fire, yet was subsequently reborn in the ashes.

Taz wouldn't mind a new life.

He closes his eyes, breathing in the smoke, waiting to be reborn in flame.

Avery tries to drag him away, yanking at his arm, pulling him along so his shoes scrape across the pavement, but it proves futile. Campus security catch them barely ten yards from the blaze.

When Taz is asked about why he and Avery burned down one of storage sheds, he immediately tells the truth. For the first time in his life, words come to Taz without a struggle. He informs the headmaster of exactly what happened, and Avery backs him up. The headmaster listens to them calmly, initiates an investigation into the illicit activities of the lacrosse team, and then sends both Taz and Avery to be evaluated by the school psychologist.

"Matthew, why did you agree to vandalize the shed in the first place?" The psychologist asks, not unkindly.

Taz does not have an answer. He himself is not certain of why he went along with the vandalism. To say "peer pressure" and leave at that would be a cop out, as well as inaccurate-- Avery would have stood with him if he had refused to go along with the plan, and neither of them truly care about what the lacrosse team thinks of them. He and Avery-- they just wanted to play the game. To keep his place on the lacrosse team, maybe? But then, for who? For himself, or for the purpose of keeping the peace between himself and his father?

Taz wants to say it was the former, but a sudden twisting in his stomach tells him it might be the latter.

The psychologist waits patiently for his response, but Taz realizes he can't be honest in this situation: he doesn't even know the truth himself.

He's never really lived in a world where honesty is even a factor, where emotion exists that is not fabricated or calculated. People of his kind tell white lies to be polite, deliberate lies to get what they want. They flaunt their money with their gleaming smiles and glossy hair and perfect skin, modestly accepting compliments, never mentioning that less than a third of their outward appearance is actually natural.

Bank notes remove any physical flaws, soothe any insults, repair any damage.

It's simply their lifestyle, and it's Taz's, too. They all wholeheartedly embrace it, and their sense of entitlement is blatantly obvious through their casual disregard for any rule.

In the end, no one involved in the shed burning faces any legitimate disciplinary action, as expected. The lacrosse team is dealt with, the school code is updated to include prohibitions on hazing, and the headmaster suggests to Avery's parents and Damien that Avery and Taz quietly take their leave. There are no lawsuits or arrests.

Avery's parents arrive to collect them personally. Damien, Taz's father, doesn't show, but Taz has instructions to leave with Avery.

Taz and Avery walk down the drive together, towards the waiting Cadillac.

“Don't sweat this, Taz-Boy,” Avery tells him, his arms slung over the lacrosse stick on his shoulders. “I've got this. As a punishment, my parents are making me go to public school. My parents can convince your dad to let you come along. We won't have to be apart.”

It hasn't occurred to Taz that he won't be returning to the main Devlin estate, but he supposes he's lucky Damien hasn't sent him to live out on the streets. “Where's Sleepyside, again?” The name sounds vaguely familiar.

“New York,” Avery informs him. “Y'know, that town with my parents' primary mansion, the Mediterranean-ish one that sort of looks like the St. Beatus Caves in Switzerland. Remember, it's the place where your dad built his house to resemble the Pantheon?”

“Oh, yeah.” Taz's father planned that manor down to the last detail, as a Christmas present to himself. Taz can't imagine what it's going to be like to live with Damien full time.

“What are we going to do about school?” Taz asks Avery. He wouldn't be surprised if Damien is already signing papers to ship him out to an illegal boot camp in Mexico.

“The local high school,” Avery says with an a distinct lack of enthusiasm. “Sounds like a backwater place to me.” He smirks at Taz. “But maybe they could use a pair charismatic young leaders, am I right?”

Taz's stomach plummets at the mention of a new school. New town, new people, new schedules, fresh hell. “I'll take my chances at boot camp,” he says aloud.

Avery stops dead, and turns to look at Taz directly. “Don't,” he says quietly. His gaze is intense. “Stay with me, Taz. I stuck by you.”

Taz holds Avery's gaze for a moment, studying his face. Avery seems serious, as though making a genuine appeal to Taz's sense of sentiment. He's . . . being honest.

Why _had_ Taz vandalized that storage shed?

The same reason he's about to agree to attend a public school.

They live in a world distinctly lacking honesty. Taz will take it where he can find it.

“All right, Avarice,” Taz says lowly, using his old nickname for Avery. “I'll stick with you.”

Avery smiles at him, the expression softer than his typically vulpine, self-satisfied grin.

Anxiety claws at Taz; he doesn't know what to expect in this new town, at this new school. He's not sure he knows what he's promising.

Strange; Avery has only been a part of his life for two years, yet Taz doesn't know what he would do without him.

Avery seems to be waiting for something.

Taz gives in and smiles back, not missing the victorious gleam in Avery's eyes at his response.

He really doesn't want to have to face a new school without Avery, and Avery doesn't want to go to a school without him. And that's the truth, as much as Taz cares to know it.


End file.
